Additive fabrication, e.g., 3-dimensional (3D) printing, provides techniques for fabricating objects, typically by causing portions of a building material to solidify at specific locations. Additive fabrication techniques may include stereolithography, selective or fused deposition modeling, direct composite manufacturing, laminated object manufacturing, selective phase area deposition, multi-phase jet solidification, ballistic particle manufacturing, particle deposition, laser sintering or combinations thereof. Many additive fabrication techniques build parts by forming successive layers, which are typically cross-sections of the desired object. Typically each layer is formed such that it adheres to either a previously formed layer or a substrate upon which the object is built.
In one approach to additive fabrication, known as stereolithography, solid objects are created by successively forming thin layers of a curable polymer resin, typically first onto a substrate and then one on top of another. Exposure to actinic radiation cures a thin layer of liquid resin, which causes it to harden and adhere to previously cured layers or the bottom surface of the build platform. Subsequent to fabrication of an object, one or more post-processing steps may be performed to clean, further cure and/or strip unwanted material from the object.